Cory and Topanga
"Cory and Topanga" is the relationship of Cory Matthews and Topanga Matthews. Other names *'Copanga' (C'/ory and T/'opanga) *'Tory '(To/panga and Co/'ry') *'Corpanga' (Cor/y and To/'panga') History Prior to Boy Meets World In November of 1980, Jedidiah and Rhiannon Lawrence brought their newborn daughter, Topanga, into their suburban Philadelphia home. A few months later, in early 1981, around the corner on Cumberland Street, Alan and Amy Matthews welcomed their second child, Cornelius—known as Cory—into the world. Within a year, the mothers made it a habit of wheeling their toddlers around together. By the age of two, the babies recognized each other as the best of friends. But one fateful day, when they were both four, Cory and Topanga started to see their relationship in a different light. While in the sandbox of the local park, Topanga caught the attention of another boy named Joey Hutchinson. Inexplicably, Cory found himself telling Joey that they could fly, and after pointing to the monkey bars, challenged his newfound rival to climb to the top. When the pair reached the highest spot they could, they discovered that they were stuck. Topanga simply said to jump off. Fearlessly, Cory took her advice and did just that, somewhat injuring himself in the process. Immediately, she rushed to his side, and despite his pain, Cory told Topanga she had "beautiful lips" and pecked her cheek. As the then by now forgotten Joey plummeted to the ground, unnoticed, Cory added that Topanga also had a "cute tush." From then on, Cory would playfully consider Topanga "The Wife." While on a field trip to the city zoo during kindergarten, the couple first met a new kid their age, Shawn Hunter. After falling into the llama habitat while trying to impress Topanga, Cory was retrieved by the newcomer, forging a lifetime friendship between Cory and Shawn. On the day first grade began, Mr. Feeny made the mistake of attempting to separate Cory and Topanga, and the pair reacted rather violently, mildly assaulting their new teacher, while Shawn opined that the couple should be left alone and just be allowed to get married. The three of them spent many afternoons in the basement of the Lawrence household, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while watching classic Hanna Barbera and Warner Bros. cartoons on TV. Shawn initially convinced Cory to establish the tree house in the Matthews' backyard as a girl-free zone, but Topanga's rather litigious response soon ended that idea. By that summer, a new sister, Morgan Matthews, had arrived, and unconsciously, Cory begun experiencing the feelings of being ignored and neglected by his family, especially by his elder sibling, Eric. One night, when Cory and Topanga were out back catching fireflies, Eric emerged from the house chanting "Cory loves Topanga!" Eager for the opportunity to impress his brother, Cory (not realizing until years later just how much he was lying) replied "Yuck! I hate her!" When informed by Eric that having a girl as a best friend "wasn't cool," Cory, desperate to appease and emotionally reconnect with his brother by any means possible, deliberately, and without explanation, distanced himself from Topanga, teasing her unmercifully, and even going as far as actually throwing dirt at her. While his friendship with Shawn became closer, by the start of second grade, Cory and Topanga had become virtual strangers. Their encounters at school, in the neighborhood, and even at Little League games were decidedly cold, completely lacking their previous warmth. Although she would give up Little League after beating Ricky Ferris, Topanga would still occasionally play softball when asked by her parents. At school, she was branded into the same (anti)social peer group as Stuart Minkus, and although he was clearly infatuated with her, Topanga never had any interest in him, although she was practically the only one who ever called him by his first name. After five years filled with misadventures with his best buddy Shawn (whose family had by now moved from the trailer park into a house a mere two blocks away from the Matthews) and a busy home life with his own close-knit family, for Cory, any fond memories concerning his onetime "Playground Playmate For Life," had completely faded from his consciousness. Conversely, with her rather remarkable mind, Topanga was capable of completely recalling everything, but her fierce independent nature prevented her from ever directly demanding her former friend to explain himself. Ergo, the unsolved mystery of precisely why Cory Matthews totally severed their friendship, did have the tendency to periodically gnaw at Topanga's sensitive soul. Yet, at such moments, it was a simple matter for the forlorn girl to seek out refuge at the Unicorn Rainbow Bookstore (where her father worked) and lose herself among the varied collection of literary works—representing a veritable mystical myriad of fascinating philosophies, arcane knowledge, and unconventional concepts—which lined the shelves. Therefore, Topanga, left with the opportunity and absolute freedom to constantly absorb all manner of diverse ideologies, found herself fully embracing the more eccentric aspects of her parents' hippie lifestyle. Despite years of seeing each other in class daily, Cory and Topanga possessed only the most peripheral of presences in each other lives. Cory (with Shawn) would taunt her for her perceived strangeness and the wild tresses atop her head, to which Topanga would never deign to make any kind of reply. Thus, if the pair were asked to describe their other classmate in only two words, Cory would have instantly blurted out "Big-haired Weirdo!" whereas Topanga would have thoughtfully arrived at "Hyperactive Underachiver." Cory would later ruefully dub the unfortunate period of his (non)relationship with Topanga during their time attending Jefferson Elementary School as "The Lost Years." However, unbeknownst to either of them, due to an impending intervention by their longtime teacher, Mr. Feeny, (whether by mere coincidence or grand design) Cory and Topanga's long stagnant relationship was on the verge of being revived. ''Boy Meets World Season 1 At the dawning of their final year attending Jefferson Elementary School for sixth grade, nothing had changed between them. But after a particularly insipid presentation on the environmental issue of their choice, by the perennial project partners of Cory and Shawn, a fed-up Mr. Feeny decided to give them a second chance: Shawn was paired with his nemesis, Minkus, but Cory was matched up with Topanga. Although she knew she really had no choice in the matter, Topanga made a show of asking to examine his hand, and after doing so deemed that Cory's energy was "vibrationally acceptable," to her own. At lunch, after they finalized the details for working on their project, she tried to get him to help protest the forced retirement of the school librarian, Mrs. Rosemead, but a preoccupied Cory merely brushed her off. By now well-used to such treatment from him, Topanga resumed her place at the "Weirdo" table. Entering the eerily familiar yet comforting warmth of the Matthews' kitchen with Cory for the first time in years, Topanga allowed herself to become so distracted that she failed to prevent little Morgan from slipping a doll into the toaster oven. Since Cory did not react to the obvious resultant smell, she opted to follow his lead. As she had already done her research on the hole in the ozone layer, it was easy to convince Cory to stay with that topic. Handing him a piece of paper, she asked him to recite the poem written on it. While he reluctantly complied, she tried to entrance Cory with her heartfelt rendition of an interpretive dance entitled "Doughnut In The Sky," which culminated in Topanga inscribing a mandala over her face with lipstick. The unexpected performance definitely left an impression on Cory, as he wanted no part of it, knowing that the entire class would laugh at them. She simply asked why did he care about what others thought of him. He wanted to know if she actually tried to be act weird. Topanga replied that she didn't consider herself "weird," but rather "unique." Cory confessed that he wouldn't be able to stand out in such a way, he only wanted to blend in like everyone else. Topanga informed him that he had done a good job of dong just that. But, after she snatched up his old Phillies cap, pointed it out as his exception. She realized the red Philadelphia baseball hats were a common sight around the school (Topanga, herself, had one stored along with the rest of her Little League mementos), yet she also remembered younger Cory telling her the lengths he had endured to get the cap. It was that importance which Cory placed upon the hat, she explained, which made it beautiful. That was the first real conversation between Cory and Topanga since the age of six. The abrupt appearance of Shawn with a sack of stuff Cory had been urgently waiting for cut short the moment. As he began rushing her out of the house, Cory did ask her what she thought of his hair. With a rather wistful, beatific expression on her lipstick smeared features, Topanga shared the opinion she had held since she was four—that it was beautiful—by comparing it to "a desert tumbleweed." Cory, who had been dealing with insecurities about his curly hair attempted to straighten it with the help of Shawn. The two boys ended up making his hair problem worse, as Cory's hair had become stiffly petrified around his head. When Cory went to school the next day, his classmates all laughed at his hair while he and Topanga were making their presentation. When Cory asked Topanga why she wasn't laughing she simply told him his hair was different and that she had no reason to laugh. Because of his hair, Cory elected to eat lunch with the anti-social group sharing the "Weirdo" table. When even Minkus was stumped by their failure to circulate the petition Topanga had previously tried to show him, Cory decided to demonstrate to them the error of their ways by adding his own creative input to the cause. Almost late due to his reluctance to display yet another attempt to rectify his disastrous hairdo, Cory arrived in the school hallway, just before the final bell on Friday, to hatch his scheme to get the other kids involved in Mrs. Rosemead's situation. Although earlier she had managed to maintain her composure, not even Topanga could stop herself from giggling along with the rest when they beheld the bizarre mane atop Cory's head. Together, the six handcuffed themselves to each other and formed a human chain across opposite lockers to block the primary path to the school buses. When the other students arrived, seeking to head home for the weekend, Cory stated that they would not move unless the crowd agreed to support Mrs. Rosemead. The determined stance of the little group, plus the fact that a new librarian would see through any feeble excuses, reluctantly convinced their other classmates, and they all agreed to sign the petition. After his new alternative friends (and Minkus) left, a still handcuffed together Cory and Topanga remained in the hall, discussing what they had accomplished. Cory noticed Topanga staring at him after she noted that "sometimes the most reluctant warrior is the bravest warrior." Suddenly nervous, Cory jokingly asked, "You're not gonna, like, kiss me now, are you?" Topanga then replied with "It depends. Would it be your first kiss?" She continued by telling Cory it would be funny if for his whole life he would recall his first kiss as happening when he thought he looked weird, because then he would realize that it's not what matters on the outside but rather on the inside. A very shocked Cory, desperately seeking to escape their handcuffs, then pointed out "You shouldn't kiss someone you're not married to." Topanga then admitted, "Yeah, I would have to feel I really knew the guy, and that I liked him." With a mischievous smile indicative of just how much she truly missed their prior childhood closeness, Topanga abruptly pinned Cory against the lockers and kissed him. Cory emerged with a goofy look across his face, and Topanga, not counting their innocent peck as four-year-olds when Cory leaped off the monkey bars, then confessed, "It was my first one too." On Monday at lunch, Cory resumed his normal existence, gently declinng sitting with Topanga, Minkus, and the rest. But as he sat at his usual place with Shawn, something made Cory briefly turn around. With a shared secret smile, Topanga, revealed to Cory, that she had retrieved her own Phillies cap to wear at school just for him. That simple, yet touching, moment was significant to both Cory and Topanga, as it was definite evidence proving that, while their relationship had merely thawed from completely frozen solid to a small melting trickle, the floodgates were now most definitely open. (Cory's Alternative Friends) After that first kiss, Cory and Topanga's relationship subtly changed. While Cory and Shawn continued to target their joking jabs at her hair and odd utterances, for her part, Topanga now felt comfortable enough to answer back with cutting comments of her own. Shawn could still be intentionally hurtful, but for Cory the maliciousness had evaporated, and he and Topanga's verbal jousts evolved into playful banter. While not exactly friends, they were becoming more than mere acquaintances, capable of visiting each other’s houses for homework, and even spending a little time together outside of class playing softball, when their fathers’ teams (Market Giant, and the Unicorn Rainbow Bookstore) competed against each other. While Cory’s relationship with Topanga was gradually improving, his friendship with Shawn was slowly deteriorating, as his usually cheerful buddy became secretive and gloomy. Initially Cory suspected that it stemmed from his not joining Shawn on the A-Team of the Jefferson Warriors Basketball squad but that would prove to be untrue. In class, Cory faced interesting challenges, such as participating in a Geography Bee, delineating and defending his dream to be a future All-Star player for the Philadelphia Phillies, and actually teaching his fellow students about the tragic life of Anne Frank. Occasionally, Mr. Feeny and Topanga would conspire to spark debate within the class with Cory and Minkus being the favored targets. Around the Christmas season, Cory finally discovered Shawn’s secret–his father, Chet Hunter, had been laid off. from his job. When Cory proved to Shawn that they were pals regardless of anything else happening in their lives, their friendship was restored. For his twelfth birthday, Topanga unwittingly gave Cory an unexpected present, as the sight of his not-quite-friend in her swim wear, during SCUBA class, actually left the normally talkative birthday boy speechless. Until one day when Cory and Topanga's class watched a film strip about puberty. After the video Shawn started getting a crush on a girl and ended up going on a date with her. Cory grew jealous of Shawn's new girlfriend and decided to get back at him with a date of his very own and after consulting Minkus, Cory decided Topanga would be a good choice for his fake date. The two decided that they would meet up and eat lunch at iHOS (International House of Salads). Amy, Cory's mother, overheard Cory telling Shawn on the phone that he couldn't hang out because he was going out with Topanga. Amy told Alan, who felt bad for his son thinking he would make a fool of himself and giggle like an idiot. When Cory came into the house, Amy questioned him about his date with Topanga and he told them he only asked her out because Shawn asked a girl out. Amy told Cory that it would be unfair to Topanga if he went along with the date, so Cory called Topanga and told her he couldn't come because he had the flu. Later that day, Topanga arrived at Cory's house with soup, saying it would help him get better. Cory then admitted to Topanga that he just wasn't ready to go on a date yet. Topanga said it was okay and turned to leave, but before she did she thought for a minute before picking up one of Cory's socks that was on the ground and asked him why his socks were scattered across the floor. Cory answered that it was because he had been helping his mom put his clothes in the basket by pretending it was a basketball game and he threw the clothes in the basket like a basketball player. He taught Topanga some "pointers," and when Topanga got a basket Cory gave her a high five. When he touched her hand he started giggling like an idiot. Cory, who had witnessed Shawn giggle when his girlfriend first walked up to him, knew what this meant and clasped his hand over his mouth. Topanga laughed and she and Cory sat on the couch and started talking about Mother's Day. Cory said something funny and Topanga leaned in closer to Cory and Cory giggled yet again. At school the next day, Cory told Topanga that when they hanged out yesterday it was not a date. Topanga told him that if he didn't want it to be a date it wasn't. Cory also told Topanga that she was right on telling him to make his mom something that came from the heart, as his mother cried. Before Topanga left she smoothed down Cory's collar on his jacket that was sticking up and Cory took it back up again when she left, but he then smiled and smoothed it back down. At the end of the episode, Cory and Shawn were on the floor of the school and both boys admit to have gone on their first date. They then agreed to be friends through everything from second dates to marriages, but when both girls walk by and and say hi to both their guys, the boys split up and follow their girls. Girl Meets World Season 1 *In the pilot episode Cory and Topanga share a moment when Riley gets mad at them and storms out of the room. *It is mentioned that they were married for fifteen years. Similarities and differences Similarities *They both went to Jefferson Elementary School, John Adams High School, and Pennbrook University. *They both consider Mr. Feeny as a mentor. *They mostly have the same friends. *They are both caring, loving, and loyal to their friends. Differences *Cory has brown eyes, while Topanga has green. *Cory is male, while Topanga is female. *Cory teaches is a history teacher and Topanga is a lawyer. Trivia *By Cory's own reckoning in "Graduation," the couple had reunited eight times, impling seven previous break-ups, adding the ended engagement after her parent's divorce, Topanga and Cory then endured eight periods of separation during their storied relationship. *This ship was explored throughout ''Boy Meets World's run. *They will acquire a bakery together during GMW's first season. 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